Cupidity
by musikal-beatz
Summary: AU: At the age of 16, a monster will have a normie adopted into the family to help improve monster-normie relations. Deuce Gorgon's mother adopts his normie for him on his birthday, and Deuce adjusts to having a new 'brother' around the house. An AU in which Jackson and Holt are non-identical twins. [Possible Male/Male relationship: undecided]
1. Chapter 1

**Fandom:** Monster High

**Pairing: **Possible Deuce/Jackson (Male/Male) [Actually having second thoughts about this. May keep it as 'adjusting family' or evolve it to 'romance'. Depends on story progress].

**AU**

At the age of 16, a monster will have a normie adopted into their family for two years (the age a monster can leave home). This is to improve monster-normie relations overall – the normie does not become a slave, servant or pet of the monster. A monster may have his/her parents adopt a normie they've known and befriended, or they can adopt a normie from a home that looks after normies especially for adopting by monsters. They cannot adopt any unknown normies spotted in the streets. The befriended normie's family must first be consulted with before the adoption procedure can begin. The monster of age does not have to be the one to choose the normie – their parent/guardian can do it for them, out of young monster laziness or distrust in choice.

**Alterations:** Jackson and Holt are non-identical twins, leaving Jackson 100% normie; normies and monsters must attend separate schools.

**x-**

Deuce was reflecting on the timing of his birthday. Tuesdays meant that the celebrations had to wait until the weekend, bummer, yet it meant that the new normie set to arrive could adjust to their new home. Well, Deuce corrected himself, the normie should be at his home unpacking already, if he were to trust that his mother really as fetching the normie in the middle of the afternoon while Deuce was in class. Not for the first time he began to wonder about the new addition to the family: boy or girl, would they be happy to be missing school today to leave home, did they bring any decent video games or DVDs, maybe they were into Justin Biter… no, no way. Better not, or those CDs would be the first thing he'd throw in the bin that day. Unfortunately, Deuce's mother insisted on choosing his normie for him, so he was due a 'birthday surprise', as the normie was currently being called by his friends.

"Dude, stop spacing!" the wolf at his side snapped his fingers, "better stop dreaming about that normie; Cleo will curse you!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," Deuce laughed in reply, "and any thoughts are definitely not like that, man! My concern is if they'll find my stash of goodies."

"Confectionery, right?"

"Of course, you sly dog!" The two burst into another round of laughter. Once this had ceased, Deuce turned to the third member of their triad, "Kinda quiet there, Bro'. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing," the blue-skinned monster replied, blinking before showing his usual smile, "Why'd you say that?"

"Because you're quiet." Clawd and Deuce's reply was almost in union – the gorgon-born was a little behind by a second. They glanced at each other, and Clawd took over.

"You haven't made a comment yet about the gig tonight, or joked over whether Deuce may have a normie girl waiting on his bed for him."

"Yeah? I'm just thinkin' about something," Holt's moody exterior vanished, and a mischievous grin replaced it, "There was this girl at the bar last night…"

"Did you get rejected?"

"You'll find out if I continue my epic tale," Holt informed him, "Anyway. Girl, right. Dead pretty, mind I do have a thing for anything with fangs. Girls only, sorry Clawd. Werecat girl, so cute!... And then she walked off with anotha' guy before I could say anything."

"Ah, so it was a rejection," Deuce and Clawd nodded at each other, and this time Deuce continued "But, Frankie-"

"Frankie said she wanted a break, remember?"

"Sorry, yo," Deuce genuinely had forgotten that, he realised, running a hand over his snakes, who ducked underneath his palm and nuzzled it as it flew over them. The day it happened made both Deuce and Clawd feel too awkward to hang out with their own ghoulfriends over comforting Holt, but the fire elemental was doing well at picking himself back up, though today he seemed quiet all over again. When Holt's house – the first on the walk back from school – appeared, he was secretly a little glad. Finding words to comfort your male friends without seeming like you were coming onto them was difficult, and it didn't seem to be the right moment to be cracking jokes to help him get by.

"Well, see you guys later." Holt said, running forward a little to the gate, as if happy to be home to put him in isolation himself.

"Tomorrow, pick you up again, yeah?" Deuce asked. Holt looked at Deuce as if he'd warned Holt that a snowman might be under his bed – that look as 'that's weird'.

"Same as always for the past… how many years, right?" The fire elemental raised an eyebrow, his hand remaining on the gate but not yet unlocking it, "Seriously, when we turn sixteen do we forget these things? I don't remember that happenin' to Clawd?"

"You looked really out of it, man. Look, maybe you need to talk about things, and you don't want to, but we're here. We're all bro's, man."

"Cheers," Holt replied, now vanishing into his garden. Clawd and Deuce waved at him before continuing their own way home.

The walk from school took a good twenty-five minutes to walk, which often meant that sometimes the monsters didn't get to discuss everything in one go. By the time they reached Deuce's home, they'd only planned that, yes, a day out paintballing would be quite enjoyable, but then they'd need to find more people to make it really fun and, no worries, Clawdeen would definitely come and most likely fight a whole team on her own. Deuce was still chuckling as he waved goodbye to the werewolf, and tried to find the door handle with his other hand without looking, and failed. He turned around, and let himself into his home. As he waked in, any normie surprise was forgotten, and Holt's unusual mood returned to worry him. He had a spur of the moment feeling of calling Clawd back so they could discuss throwing something into his birthday celebrations that would appeal to the fire elemental and help him feel better, but decided against it right then. Unlike Clawd, who he had met since school started, Deuce and Holt had known each other as kids on the park playground. Holt and his father would be there, and Deuce would join the other child in whatever game was in and whatever imagination they could conjure while their parents sat and talked. Come to think of it, Deuce couldn't ever remember seeing Holt's mother in the past, and that he knew more about banking issues than he did about Holt's family. Clawd, on the other hand – Deuce knew each of his siblings from several litters, even though they hadn't known each other that long.

"Maybe all childhood friendships lack info'," Deuce mused as he kicked off his shoes into the shoe holders by the door. His glasses were halfway off his face when the sight of the additional set of shoes stopped him. A quick analysis as he pushed his glasses back up gave him some idea of the normie; blue shoes, too big for a girl, so it had to be a male normie. Sweet – he had a new brother.

"Mum?" Deuce called, hoping that pretending to call for his mother would draw the normie out of hiding instead, "Where are you?... I'm gonna cook dinner soon so I need to know what you wanna eat!" He walked down the hallway, glancing through the lounge area. The room was empty, and Deuce's eyes hovered on the pile of gifts there for a moment before a sound from upstairs snatched his attention away. He walked to the other side of the hallway and looked up the stairs, his arrival home welcomed by the new existence of a set of normie eyes upon him.

"Do you have to shout?" The normie asked him – well spoken, and soft. A little feminine maybe.

"Yeah. Where is everyone?"

"Your mother is out, still. My house, probably, settling things." Deuce didn't need to ask what things: adoption finalising.

"So, just you and me, Normie," The urge to have called him 'normie surprise' was too strong. School jokes be damned, "What do I call ya? And feed you?"

"Don't say that like you've just been given a new puppy," The normie tutted, "I'm Jackson. And-" he interrupted Deuce as he opened his mouth to reply "-I know your name, Deuce. So nevermind introductions."

"Well, that was easy."

"Wasn't it just? You mentioned dinner? I thought you'd be excited for your birthday presents, so I was really taking the time to catch up on school work."

"Homework, seriously?" Deuce laughed, then paused. Oh, he was. Without another word, the gorgon male turned away from the stairs towards the kitchen. At the open door, he paused and listened. Half of him expected the normie to follow him, maybe out of curiosity or hunger, but the footsteps carried on overhead and ended with a closing door. "Boring normie."

**x-**

**A/N: A little short starter for this, but I wanted to get my ideas down before I could start the planning and development part. And I wanted to get this out there to see what the interest in it would be like, even though I'll continue this regardless. But yeah – it's a starting point, and to get some of my writing style out there so I can take on feedback before the next chapter. I feel like I could get so much more in here – but I want to save most of it for later chapters. Also, as it says, I don't know if this will take a turn for Deuce/Jackson, or if I'l keep it as a family story. Also, it's lunch time, and I'm hungry. Thank you for reading this chapter. Any questions and advice will be replied to, and feedback will be treasured.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Fandom:** Monster High

**Pairing:** Possible Deuce/Jackson (Male/Male)

**AU**

At the age of 16, a monster will have a normie adopted into their family for two years (the age a monster can leave home). This is to improve monster-normie relations overall – the normie does not become a slave, servant or pet of the monster. A monster may have his/her parents adopt a normie they've known and befriended, or they can adopt a normie from a home that looks after normies especially for adopting by monsters. They cannot adopt any unknown normies spotted in the streets. The befriended normie's family must first be consulted with before the adoption procedure can begin. The monster of age does not have to be the one to choose the normie – their parent/guardian can do it for them, out of young monster laziness or distrust in choice – as learned in the story, Deuce's mother does this for him.

**Alterations:** Jackson and Holt are non-identical twins, leaving Jackson 100% normie; normies and monsters must attend separate schools.

**x-**

The normie had finally came down to the kitchen; Deuce had wondered for a moment if it were the smell of his own cooking, or if he'd simply gotten hungry during his studying. Deuce's own cooked dinner had been eaten by its chef, who was in the process of cleaning up after himself, and the head of the household still appeared to be out. Then he decided that the answer didn't matter anyway, and that he would not be the one to talk first. If the normie was expecting a made dinner, then he'd be wrong. His resolve left a silence as Jackson walked around him, the fridge set as his destination. The fridge had a little and irritating quirk about it, and Deuce still didn't bother to say anything. His glasses hid the direction of his eyes gaze as the watched Jackson pull at the handle. Upon first try, nothing happened, and Jackson tried again with several varying strengths, and Deuce couldn't help but smile a little as Jackson grumbled at the inanimate object. This time, he grabbed the actual side of the door and pulled, and the door opened a little too easily for him this way, causing him to stumble a few steps backwards before he could eventually check out the fridge's contents.

"What foods in here may I eat?" Jackson soon asked, breaking the silence.

"Anything, I suppose," Deuce replied, looking at to the sink as he continued to clean up, "you live here so the food is yours."

"Mine, huh?" Jackson shut the fridge door, and the serpent monster felt the room chill. The duo-haired kid seemed to have suddenly lost his appetite, as he seemed uninterested in hunting for food anymore. He settled in the nearest chair possible, sitting sideways so that he could lean one arm on the top of the kitchen table.

"Where are ya from?" Deuce asked, trying to be friendlier towards him. Maybe the kid had come all the way from the North, or South and-

"A few doors down."

"Oh. Wait, what?" Deuce paused, and looked at Jackson fully at last, "I've lived here all my life, and I know all my neighbours, an' everything. I ain't ever seen you before."

"And I've never seen you before," Jackson shrugged, "That's a lie. I've seen you pass by my window. I have known about you for some time, believe it or not." He started to draw shapes on the woodwork absent-mindly. Upon further inspection, they were random lines that Jackson was drawing that simply made shapes, and Deuce paid the action no further notice. The Gorgon reached out, his eyes still watching Jackson 'draw', only to hit thin air. His attention turned while he checked to make sure he had cleaned everything he'd used and pulled his hands out of the water. He shook his hands before grabbing the nearby tea towel, which was dropped on the side ungracefully after its job had been done.

"Look, I'm about t'go and put a film on while I open my pressies. D'you want to come with? I'll let ya pick, so long as it's not Ella Enchanted!"

"Shame, that's my ultimate favourite," Deuce didn't miss the sarcasm in Jackson's voice. At least the kid had a sense of humour somewhere, "However, I'm thinking more studying is at hand."

"What are you, a nerd?" Deuce grinned, trying his best to break him out of isolation, "C'mon, we'll watch somethin' with anotha' nerd in! Skyfall – that's an intense one!"

"Shall I put it bluntly? I don't want to." Jackson pushed himself off the chair, and before Deuce could block his way out from the kitchen, had bolted for the room door, his hurrying footsteps hitting each stair upwards heavily.

"And then he said that, yo!" Deuce recounted the story of the night before at school to almost anyone who would listen. Most monsters didn't, having already turned of age and having their own normies, and weren't finding his tale unique enough. Clawd only seemed to listen so he could blow off some steam, while Holt seemed surprisingly interested.

"He has just moved home – from family to strangers. He's settling in. Maybe he's scared?" Clawd tried rationalising, "How about you throw a monster party and show him we're not so bad?"

"He's not scared," Deuce replied, "I know fear. This guy's just… a nerd! And a boring one to boot."

"Bond over homework?" Clawd asked, quickly talking more as he noticed Deuce's eyebrows raise above his glasses, "You could sit there, drinking juice, and playing tunes, and he can do both your works for you?"

"I don't even know if he'll talk while he's workin'. Woulda been better if my Mam chose someone else," The Gorgon mumbled, running out of words and new ways he could show his dislike for the normie. "Yo, Holt. Any ideas?"

"How the heck should I know what to do with a guy?"

"That's not the point, the point is-"

"Exactly!" Clawd smacked a fist into his palm, while Deuce swore he could almost hear someone scream 'eureka', "He's a guy, right? So see if he likes a sport? Get 'im out the house where homework doesn't exist!"

"Casketball! He likes that!" Holt joined in, "Though normies call it basketball, so just watch how you say it." A moment passed in which Holt realised he'd spoken out of term, and Deuce and Clawd were trying to work out where his confidence in his reply came from.

It was Deuce who killed the moment. "How do you know? I thought that game where you kick the ball instead was popular for normies?"

"… My mother brought this mag'. Had a sport section, and it was going on about casket… basketball. 'Next best thing', or something stupid." Holt noticed the quizzical look his two friends gave him. "What now? What did I say? Don't tell me – for readin' my mom's stuff?"

"Yeah, ain't that stuff for housewives."

"You can have sporty housewives!" Holt insisted, then carried on, ignoring Clawd's attempts to speak, "When you get in tonight, go find- the normie, and just ask him if he wants to play a game. Make him ask questions – if he asks, he's interested."

"Normie Guru!" Clawd laughed, "I didn't know you had one!"

"I don't. I got two months left. I'd better get scouting the clubs and make some normie parents my friends so I can get a a deese' normie!"

"Hang on, hang on!" Deuce interrupted the new topic.

"What? I'm tired of your normie. Let's talk about mine, and Holt's potential!" Clawd pouted.

"In a sec', man. Just one question – what do I ask 'im first?"

Deuce stood on the top of the stairs, still and silent. Jackson was home; he'd seen his shoes to know. But knocking on the door kept reminding him of the one scene in an animated film where they burst into song about snowmen, and it was off putting. How Frankie had convinced them all to sit through that was remarkable – since finding out about movies she loved them, and of course it was hard to say no to her. Forcing singing aside, Deuce took the steps to Jackson's bedroom door, and paused once again for confidence before he dared to knock twice. There was also the temptation to knock a theme instead but that could wait until he found out what Jackson's favourite theme tune was. Deuce hadn't noticed Jackson was shorter than him, though he wasn't surprised at having to look down at people; he always had to hold his neck at the same angle to talk to Holt.

"May I help you?" Jackson asked him after giving Deuce a moment to talk first. The normie stood between the door and the frame, refusing to open it fully.

"Whoops, sorry, got lost in thought," Deuce told him.

"Uh-huh."

"Anyway, question, yo'. How old are ya?"

"… I'm fifteen. Give me two more months and it'll change," Jackson told him, "Is that all?"

"Not at all! What sports d'you play at school?"

"Sports? I suppose a jock like you would ask," Jackson's hands finally let go of the wood, but he folded his arms across his chest, "Football, basketball, tennis… I don't like any others."

"Will you play basketball with me? Oh, but we call it casketball! So call it that, yeah?"

"Oh yes, you do, don't you. I'd forgot…" The normie looked back into his room, then back to the Gorgon-born, "Give me five minutes to tidy up, and I'll entertain you."

Deuce didn't wait for the door to shut before he left the nerd to find the casketball from his room. Finding the ball wasn't difficult; he just had to remember which pile of clothing it was under before he tucked it under his arm and headed towards the front door.

"Timing. Splendid." Jackson's voice called to him from the corridor, and Deuce knew what he meant.

"Means I don't haf'ta wait around, great! Let's go. You know where the park is?" He asked, walking down the stairs after him.

"Don't you remember our conversation from last night? Can you please save only relevant questions for me and save any others for your friend."

"Friends," Deuce corrected him, "I'm a popular guy."

"Oh yes, forgive me, of course," Jackson used sarcasm against him once again, "Less nit-picking my speech, more leaving." The normie pulled his trainers on roughly, and tied the laces quickly and pocked the loose hoops through the lace across the front to hold them in place. Deuce followed suit, though he let his own lace-hoops fall free, and opened the door first with the reasoning that he had to lock up anyway, so he might as well keep a hand on the door. Jackson passed by him, and continued to walk down the garden without him, keeping a slow pace until Deuce caught up. Jackson walked faster than Holt and Clawd, and Deuce was glad he was used to exercise by the time they reached the casketball court. With Jackson's nerdiness and short legs, he wondered how Jackson would even walk so fast anyway; it used more energy than the boy needed, and geeks didn't need to be fast, did they? The silence up to the park had also been uncomfortable, and to finally have something to do made Deuce appreciative that the walk hadn't lasted so long.

"Do you need rules?" Deuce asked, removing his jacket and tossing it on the ground as he stood in the middle of the court. Jackson stood opposite him, and simply pulled his sweatshirt over his head, folded it, and placed it at the side of his feet.

"Irrelevant question," he reminded him. "Get with it. And go!" Deuce hesitated for a minute before throwing the ball into the air, and the two jumped after it. Deuce had the more powerful jump, and upper hand, and the ball bounced towards Jackson's casket. Without another word to each other, they chased after it. The game continued, neither of the two noticing the time go by as they ran and jumped. Jackson wasn't as strong or good a player as Deuce, but he was able to score a decent set of hoops against him, keeping Deuce awake and alert enough rather than finding the game a dull affair.

"Time, time!" Jackson eventually shouted, bringing their game to, what Deuce hoped, a short break.

"What's wrong?" Deuce asked, "Need a drink?"

"No. I'm hot, and tired, and sweaty, and I stink!" Jackson whined at him. Game over, Deuce thought, and realised he was enjoying the game more than he had expected.

"Bro' – you sound like a girl!"

"So sue me," Jackson panted, his feet dragging as he went to pick up his sweatshirt, the strain of sleepiness and work taking its toll now he'd let the game end.

"But we were having fun!" Deuce picked up the ball and dribbled it over to where Jackson was. He would have through the ball at him to catch, but Jackson didn't seem as though he'd even notice until the ball would hit him.

"You're right," The normie looked from the floor to the monster, and a smile broke out across his face, "We were having fun. Ask me again sometime?" The smile dropped, through the edges of his mouth were noticeably curved as the nerd leaned down and picked Deuce's jacket up off the floor.

"You didn't have to do that," Deuce told him, though he took the shirt from him when Jackson offered. "Earlier at the home, you said that you forgot that monsters call this casketball?"

"Yes, I did. Your mother gave me a booklet about adjusting into a monster home. Now come on, I need you to walk me home. Your mother has yet to provide me with a key," Jackson told him, "You mentioned you have Skyfall on DVD?"

**x-**

**A/N: I hope this wasn't too long! I wanted to separate it in so many places but none of the endings felt right. And I didn't want to put the whole 'Deuce drops glasses, Jackson helps out' scene in; well, I did, but I don't think it worked quite so well as in the diaries. I don't know! I tried! Plus I couldn't type in "Jackson got some glasses out of the thin air which is actually a secret portal to a room where Jackson keeps stuff for emergencies like this!" Oh, and I don't plan on always updating this quickly, so please don't expect another chapter next week because it may not happen. Thank you for reading this chapter. Any questions will be replied to, and feedback will be treasured.**

**TERMINOLOGY:**

**Deese – short for decent. I'm not sure if people would get the right pronunciation from 'Dec' though, so I typed it as it sounds to say.**


End file.
